Related Stories

Hoping to better gauge his team's abilities this season, Stamford High head coach Mario Caminiti circled the Black Knights' showdown with Norwalk on Tuesday as a "test."

He viewed it as an opportunity to determine whether his team could stand par--at least for one match--with one of the perennial powers, after picking up points against soccer lightweights Bassick and Harding to begin the year.

Ultimately, it took one forgettable half for Caminiti to get an answer.

Fashioning a skilled attack and an aggressive defense built on pressuring the ball, the Bears dominated in all facets of the game, and remained perfect on the season with a 5-0 rout of the Black Knights.

"They outworked us. They outclassed us, bottom line," Caminiti said.

Forward Kevin Joslyn and Santagio Muriel scored within the first 25 minutes to build a two-goal lead for Norwalk, which held a commanding 11-2 advantage in shots in the first half.

"We failed because we all feel that we have the tools, we have the ammunition to be much more competitive than we've shown today for a longer period of time," Caminiti said. "We didn't do it. A lot of credit also goes to (Norwalk). They just pressured us all over the field and didn't give us time to breathe."

That constant pressure made life easy for Norwalk goalkeeper Svet Kozak, who was rarely challenged and needed to make just one save to earn the shutout. Defense has become a sole focus for Norwalk, which surrendered one of its lowest goal totals (16) in program history last year but proceeded to graduate nine seniors--five of whom are expected to play in college.

"No matter what team--whether it's a very skilled team or an unskilled team--you put somebody under pressure and they don't have time to make decisions," said Norwalk head coach Chris Laughton, whose team has allowed just one goal in its first three matches. "Usually they'll turn over the ball."

Norwalk whiffed on opportunities to pad its lead late in the first half, but pestered the Stamford (1-1-1) net over the final 40 minutes. After receiving credit for an own goal with 7:08 remaining after a failed clear attempt by Stamford off a corner kick, the Bears grabbed a 4-0 lead less than three minutes later on Joslyn's second goal of the match.

"We overpowered them in the second half," said Joslyn, the Bears' leading returning scorer from a year ago. "They had some good players but we just outplayed them at times."

With 3:39 left, Matt Capomolla capped the scoring for Norwalk when he booted a shot past goalkeeper Yeisson Llanos (four saves) off a cross from Chris Puente.

Now 3-0 on the season, Norwalk visits Trumbull on Thursday in a pivotial FCIAC battle. Laughton believes the Bears must do some more fine-tuning, explaining that his team lacked urgency after storming out to a two-goal lead. He's remindful, however, that the overwhelming result speaks to Norwalk's potential moving forward.

"I thought we really did not play well today," he said. "That's kind of scary to think about when you don't play well against a quality team like Stamford and still win 5-0. There's still a lot that we need to improve on."